WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) has been re-accredited against Rainbow Tick Standards, strengthening the value we place on supporting, respecting and celebrating the individual differences of our staff and the broader WA community.
The re-accreditation process involved submission of over 80 pieces of evidence and a highly successful assessment week in May 2023, where over 45 staff and stakeholders were consulted by the assessment team.
WAPHA CEO, Learne Durrington, said re-accreditation against the standards reaffirms WAPHA’s organisational culture is LGBTIQA+ inclusive and affirmative for our staff and stakeholders.
“It also means that our staff understand why inclusive practice is so important and have adequate training, LGBTIQA+ stakeholders are involved in our work and feel safe to provide personal information where relevant, and that the cultural safety of our LGBTIQA+ staff and stakeholders is upheld.
“Achieving accreditation demonstrates to our staff, partners, providers and wider primary care stakeholders that we are committed to ensuring people with diverse bodies, identities and experiences have access to safe, inclusive and culturally appropriate healthcare,” she said.
“We are proud of this achievement, recognising the value we place on continuous improvement and maturing of LGBTIQA+ inclusion and equity at WAPHA.”
The Rainbow Tick assessment team highlighted a number of strengths:
- WAPHA’s journey to being an inclusive, safe space for people from the rainbow communities has yielded a workplace that is welcoming, inclusive and safe for staff.
- WAPHA takes a holistic, strengths-based approach to service delivery and support. Furthermore, that an essential part of WAPHA’s work is to understand and respect the whole person, and their intersectionalities. That approach provides a very strong foundation and impetus for LGBTIQA+ inclusive practice and for WAPHA being a safe space.
- WAPHA is highly attuned to issues of cultural safety in the broadest sense, based on clear and firmly held values and a deep commitment to health equity.
- Through WAPHA’s LGBTIQA+ Stakeholder Reference Group, and with strong commitment and leadership from WAPHA’s Board and senior leadership, each standard and each criterion has been given considerable thought, not only to how the organisation will achieve compliance, but also to how the principles will be embedded into the organisation’s practices.
Find out more about our commitment to diversity.